Puyol took a major step in his recovery from a knee injury as the Catalans beat PSG on penalties on Saturday night, and afterwards he paid tribute to the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva and Ezequiel Lavezzi, who have all moved to the French capital this summer.

"Our opponents should soon rise to power with their new arrivals. The team is capable of doing something in Ligue 1 and also in the Champions League," he said.

Those thoughts were echoed by coach Tito Vilanova, who was pleased that his side could test their youngsters against last season's Ligue 1 runners-up.

"It was an important game for us, because we are in the middle of the pre-season with plenty of young players having joined us," the 42-year-old noted at the post-match press conference.

"The match was also important because we played against a team which will have a great role in Europe. They currently only lack a little cohesion between the players. "PSG are not far from success after greatly investing in the last two years."